Hedge Funds Losing Hope for GulfMark Offshore, Inc. (GLF)

Because GulfMark Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:GLF) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Michael Price’s MFP Investors dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling about $6.4 million in stock, while Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.9 million worth of GLF shares. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to GulfMark Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:GLF). These stocks are ROI Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:ROIQ), Salem Media Corp (NASDAQ:SALM), Xcel Brands Inc (NASDAQ:XELB), and Emergent Capital Inc (NYSE:EMG). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to GLF’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $32 million. That figure was $35 million in GLF’s case. ROI Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:ROIQ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Xcel Brands Inc (NASDAQ:XELB) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. GulfMark Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:GLF) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard ROIQ might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.